Walrus Gala - TD Bank Purchase

The Chocolate Moose

The Chocolate Moose was purchased by Ann Lawson and Paul Brehl at the Walrus Gala in Toronto

The Weekend Warrior was purchased by Toronto Dominion for their art collection.

I met so many great people last night at the Walrus Gala. I sat with dear friend Chris Straw and the wonderful folks from Adventure Canada. The night was great success for everyone involved. I had a great connection with Murray McLauchlan and saw many very familiar faces in the crowd.

Upcoming exhibition - A SIMPLE LIFE - opens Dec 5th

Dec 3rd - 18th, Winchester Gallery 2260 Oak Bay Ave, Victoria, BC

Reception Dec 5th, 6 - 8 PM

"We have wandered so far from the land. In a couple of generations we have gone from a relatively simple existence to a life of consumption and disconnection".

Making Hay

Mixed Media on Blanket

48"w x 40"h

Crazy Horse 44"w x 86"h

The Homesteader - The Red Ensign - The Voyager

The Good Book
Mixed Media Assemblage
52"w x 40"h (open)

Don't Fence Me In
Mixed Media Assemblage
66"w x 44"h

The Homesteaders
Mixed Media Assemblage
44"w x 60"h

The Hay Wagon
Mixed Media on Blanket
48"w x 40"h

Golden Stack
Mixed Media on Blanket
48"w x 40"h

Wagon Wheel
Mixed Media on Blanket
48"w x 40"h

Two Stacks
Mixed Media on Blanket
48"w x 40"h

Three Stacks
Mixed Media on Blanket
48"w x 40"h

The Toques and Chocolate Moose

The Treaty Medals

3 - Altars (size of a shoe box)

This latest series honours our heritage while raising questions about our future. 

In May 2012, while driving to Toronto, I explored a Saskatchewan homestead with a descendant of its early settler family. This once wild prairie, just 30 kilometres outside Val Marie, abuts Grasslands National Park. It is where heaven meets earth. A Simple Life was conceived as I wandered the homestead, now a bone yard of old wagons and sleighs laden with rusting hardware, weathered and rotting into the rich soil. I utilizes this hardware in many of the pieces contained in this body of work.

In the midst of making A Simple Life, I travelled to Cambodia where I photographed more than 300 haystacks.  Spending time in the Cambodian countryside was like going back in time...in my mind I was on the Canadian prairies a hundred years ago .

Both the prairie-based assemblages and the encaustic/mixed media haystacks pay homage to a much simpler time. I'd like to think that this work offers viewers a little peace and quiet...a chance to reflect on a less complicated time. Life is simpler when you plow around the stump. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply

“Jeff's works are sly love letters to Canada - quirky, capricious, frank, and thought provoking.
His dream-like images probe this country’s soul. ”

Charles Pachter

Detail of Wagon Wheel

Have art will travel

Canadian Art in Italy

Scarlet and the Rocket

Both of these life size pieces were shipped to a small village in Tuscany. They are prominently displayed in the Labatt's Villa over looking the Tuscan hills. A little piece of home on the other side of the pond.

Horizontal Flag in progress

A few images of my artistic journey

That's a cabinet scrape sitting on the flag, I scrape the surface after I've coated the entire piece.

Detail of the surface that I like to work on...chunky and rugged.

I use a string to get my lines. My reference is a very crappy photo I took of an old flag that hangs at the door of my studio.

Starting to add colour...

Blocking in the four main colours.

Starting to add the subtleties. There are a number of different kinds of line in the piece, It's really important that the lines are correct or the piece won't work. 

The finished work
60 x 38 inches
Encaustic on panel

Prairie Winds

Prairie winds blowing through my head...

This is a synopsis of an artistic journey that actually began back in 1998 with the purchase of a painting by Sonia Labatt of the infamous Canadian family. Fourteen years later  two documentary filmmakers and I traversed the country to bring my latest exhibition Due North back to Toronto where it all began.

 During the 4700 km journey we experienced an entertaining convergence with a jubilant mechanic we named “Mad Mike” that replaced a rear wheel bearing in Kamloops. We became stranded in Revelstoke for 36 hours after coming within two wheel bolts of disaster when a front wheel nearly separated from the vehicle. 

In the BC interior we had chance encounter with “Dead Man Matt”, an eccentric entrepreneur building an old western town on his picturesque property. I donned my 1876 Red Serge and the rest, all caught on film was ridiculous! Matt showed us his massive skull collection, his totally restored stage coaches and his mountain of outrageous western artifacts....I was in heaven!

In southern Saskatchewan we connected with a multigenerational rancher who generously allowed us to decorate a derelict barn with my Canadian flag inspired piece. We wandered through prairie fields littered with ancient wagons, abandoned tractors and old pick up trucks while I revealed the diversity of my inspirations and the inner workings of my process. I spoke of a series based on prairie settlers, art  constructed from old wagons, farm fragments and blankets used by the settlers in their lifetime. We were welcomed back to create this work in situ with full access to the weathered materials contained within the ancient barns and scattered across the ranch.

Other highlights captured by filmmakers Jules Molloy and Peter Campbell included the ritualistic baptisim of a Louis Riel inspired piece on the bank of the Red River, Tom Thomson's Paintbox being placed in the chilly waters of Lake Superior and the floating of a canoe painted on cheese cloth in an iconic Canadian northern lake. The crew documented the smudging of the work in the studio, the harvesting of fresh sage near Kamloops and the smudging of the Toronto gallery before the work was installed. One of my favorite incidents was an accidental ritual of sinking my shoes into the mud of the Red River and later filming these same muddy shoes walking into the Gallery in Toronto. So much personal process went into this work making the entire experience so memorable. 

The opening drew a crowd of over 75 people to hear Shelagh Rogers heartfelt address despite the rain and wind that actually flooded Union Station. Six of the pieces that sold during the exhibition were purchased by the Labatt's, four of which I installed in the family cottage in the Muskokas, the remaining two are to be shipped to Italy. I was privileged to see my work added to collections that include so many revered artists such as David Milne, Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Alex Coville, Mary and Christopher Pratt.... I was honoured to have meet Canadian painter Charles Pacher and sports journalist Stephen Brunt at my opening. I owe so much to my family for supporting my dreams, a heartfelt thank you to sister Margy Gilmour for working so hard on the publicity and of course the poetic words of Shelagh Rogers. So many doors are opening for me as a result. I will be back in Toronto with a solo next summer at Gallery 133, really looking forward to working with the Galleries owners Vanessa Axelrad and Paul Wise.
The next stop is the Winchester Gallery in Oak Bay,  December 6th -19th, 2012, where I will mount a similar exhibition. Watch for an article in the December edition of Boulevard Magazine and listen for my interview with Sheryl McKay on CBC's North by Northwest. With a little luck the Documentary film will be released the summer of 2013. 

 

Sheila's Flag and Blanket

                                                                                                                                      

                                                                             

The many stages of the work. The drawing, applying the blanket, sealing and waxing the blanket.

Making sure that both pieces fit their destinations.

                        
Both of these pieces are encaustic on panel......approximate sizes are 48"W x 72"H.